I recommend Deuter as well. Just checked out some of his stuff, and it's fantastic!

This label:

http://www.glacialmovements.com

focuses entirely on minimalist/isolationist ambient with Arctic/glacier themes. That's precisely my cup of tea, so I was overjoyed when I found it. Even though Lull is probably a familiar name to most of you, I hereby state "Like A Slow River" to be among the best ambient I've ever heard. Oh, the textures... Also, Oöphi - An Aerial View is well worth checking out.

If you like arctic themed music check out http://www.myspace.com/ancienttundra .

White Rainbow
Darkspace and Burzum (if ambient black metal is your thing)
Sunn O)))
Nadja

Bass Communion:
The solo ambient/drone/noise project of Steven Wilson, front-man in Porcupine Tree among other things. He's been releasing records under this moniker since the late 90's, and everything is just a joy to listen to. It's interesting to see the progress from the first record, 'Bass Communion' ('98) to the more recent albums where he has descended into darker, more noisy stuff, but has once again started to do 'brighter' stuff.

I'd recommend it all, but just to be precise, you'd want to go with 'Bass Communion I' and 'Bass Communion II' (which got re-issued around '08 and now comes included with 'Bass Communion III'). 'BC1' features one of my favorite ambient pieces of all time, 'Drugged'. A sample of Theo Travis playing saxophone looped and transposed into infinity. Really, really timeless piece. For all of you dark ambient heads, I'd recommend 'Ghosts on Magnetic Tape', which features creepy, slow pieces made from processing 78rpm records and piano sources. And now that we're talking glacial-themed, there's a track on the '08 record 'Molotov and Haze' titled 'Glacial 1602', which is worth the entire purchase. The album has only four tracks, but all are fairly long. It's structured in a very interested way; First track: heavy noise, second track: soothing ambient, third track: heavy noise, fourth track: soothing ambient. I bet 'Glacial 1602' would be a real treat for all of you who loves the ambient swells!

http://www.myspace.com/basscommunion

I have been digging:

Greg Davis-Mutually Arising (great psychedelic stuff)
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis-White Lunar
Eluvium-Copia

I'm a fan of early Eluvium material, but Copia left me cold, mainly because of the overly sentimental sound to it. Way too twee, in the same way recent Mono has been.

mmm i think all the eluvium material is great, EXCEPT the new album due to him trying to sing. terrible. i did pick up one of the very last copies of the Eluvium LP box set from temporary residence, and love it. the rare material found on it is great.

as for mono - i was really only excited by their You Are There album. The other albums have been boring, BUT I did preorder the new double LP of live material with them playing alongside an orchestra. it sounded interesting enough, and i've always felt their material had great themes just never got as big as it was written for, so an orchestra could only help right?

No, an orchestra was the worst possible move I reckon. They were already on the precipice of cheesy film scores with their recent work, but Hymn To The Immortal Wind goes way over the line. I'm expecting to hear some of it on 'edgy' US teen dramas like Beverly Hills 90210, during the emotional scenes when someone gets dumped. Blegh.

i think maybe i've gotten too old to care about where someones music is played anymore, or who else might be listening. i just listen to some sound samples online, if i like what i hear and they have it in vinyl - I hit order. it keeps it much simpler for myself, that way i can enjoy music for music and not concern myself with any outside aesthetics at work.

and cheesy film scores can be awesome! take a listen to steve moore's score as gianni rossi for the horror film Gutterballs. AMAZING cheesy horror disco!

Hmm, can't find any mention of Jonathan Coleclough. That is pretty much all you need and Stars of the Lid and Thomas Köner, then you are set. Someone was good enough to mention Andrew Liles earlier, and he has done quite a lot of work together with Coleclough.

Without doubt the absolute master of amorphous, cavernous music - Giacinto Scelsi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnacs3kP ... re=related

i have to comment right quick - i just got in the Mono live box set, and have been listening all afternoon - it is pretty amazing. Like I had said before, i was mostly bored with Mono but this album is really unlike anything they've done before i think. much, much more emotion and feeling in the music without being silly or dramatic.

by the way - the new red sparowes is out too, and pretty fuckin great!